Licensed Acupuncturist & Chinese
Herbalist
Asheville's Comprehensive Acupuncture Care
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Licensed Acupuncturist & Chinese
Herbalist |
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Tao of Healthy Eating: An Introduction to Chinese Food TherapyDiet plays a very important role in Chinese medicine. Although acupuncture and herbal therapy are much more widely known in the West, the support of proper dietary therapy can go a long way in bringing about more satisfactory and long-lasting effects. Combining Chinese dietary therapy with acupuncture and Chinese herbal
therapy provides a holistic approach toward better health. For
patients, understanding diet can help provide a fuller comprehension
of the philosophic principles of Chinese medicine. It allows them
to take a more active and responsible role in their therapy and will
help to prevent imbalance before it arises.  Oriental dietary theory and therapy is based on a few basic principles as a means of preventing disease and maximizing longevity. According to Chinese medicine, health and longevity are a product of our inherent constitution and our interaction with the universe. The more harmoniously we can live with change in the universe the healthier we will be. Sometimes an analogy of a stream is given; life will carry us like a boat rather than exhaust us as we try to swim upstream against the current. A remedial diet is designed to help bring a sick person back to health. There is a fine line between herbs and foods in Chinese medicine. The medical qualities of both are described in the same manner. Each food or herb is described according to its temperature, taste, meridian route(s), direction in the body, therapeutic principles of action, specific symptomatic actions, common clinical use and contraindications. It is with this information that the practitioner can prescribe what foods the patient should or should not eat according to the imbalance(s) diagnosed by the practitioner. 
The practitioner must identify the pattern or combination of patterns of imbalance manifesting in the patient. It is this identification of patterns that comprises a classical Chinese diagnosis. With this diagnosis of patterns of imbalance, the practitioner can then look to the foods that best restore balance either because of their energetic qualities and/or the method of preparation. And each food that is contraindicated or forbidden because it will exacerbate the imbalance is removed from the diet. Articles on Chinese Food TherapyNew Life Journal, "East Meets West at
the Dinner Table"
Your path to radiant health...
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In
the media and in health food stores, we are bombarded with all sorts
of diets and supplements. These are almost all used to treat symptoms
only. However, Chinese medicine provides a clinically proven method
for determining what specifically the individual needs. Dietary therapy
is designed to treat the individual imbalance that is causing the symptom
rather than simply treating the symptom. By treating the cause,
the symptom is less likely to reoccur.
